Paper Promises: Early American Photography

Paper Promises demonstrates the importance of photographic reproduction in shaping and circulating perceptions of America and its people during a critical period of political tension and territorial expansion. 

The exhibition traces mid-nineteenth-century experimentation with and exploitation of photography on paper, chronicling the ways in which concern about manipulation and duplication of paper photographs became tempered by enthusiasm for the social connectivity they offered. Rare photographs and negatives are featured alongside iconic images from the formative years of photography in the United States.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website